Serre de la Madone – the garden Hidcote's creator hid away in Menton

Lawrence Johnston made Hidcote one of England's most famous gardens. Then he bought a slope above Menton and gathered plants from five continents. Now Serre de la Madone is being restored once again.

Up in the Gorbio valley, a few kilometres from the sea in Menton, lies a garden that many garden lovers have read about but few have seen. Serre de la Madone clings to a slope in terraces among ancient olive trees, with a yellow villa in the middle. It was created by a man who had already made one of England's most famous gardens – and who wanted to grow what would never survive there.

01Lawrence Johnston – from Hidcote to Menton

Lawrence Johnston was born in Paris on 12 October 1871 as an American citizen and became British in 1900. He studied history at Cambridge and fought in the Boer War. In 1907 his mother gave him Hidcote Manor in the Cotswolds, where, up to the First World War, he created a new kind of garden, divided into rooms by hedges and low walls. Hidcote was given to the National Trust in 1948.

After the war, in which he rose to major, he looked for a place where he could grow plants from warmer countries. His mother spent her winters in Menton. On 24 June 1924 he bought land from several owners in the valley above the town, according to the French Wikipedia, and the estate kept growing until 1928.

02Terraces, cisterns and plants from five continents

With the help of H. Lloyd, Johnston turned a plantation of lemon and olive trees into a terraced garden. He added two large wings to the old farmhouse. Between 1927 and 1931 he travelled to South Africa, China and America to collect rare plants, and to water them he built or restored twelve cisterns holding 1,000 cubic metres of water. According to Wikipedia, the garden was tended by twelve gardeners.

Insider tip

Closed on Mondays and in November–December.

As at Hidcote, Johnston divided the garden with hedges and low walls. In the centre lies a double pond, around which the terraces rise. Wikipedia mentions, among other things, Mahonia siamensis, strawberry trees, pines, Rosa chinensis, bamboo and collections of cycads and succulents. Today the garden holds three nationally recognised collections: Araliaceae, Pittosporaceae and Proteaceae.

03Years of decline

In 1940 Johnston left Menton and went home to England. The property was plundered during the occupation, and when he returned in 1949 he had begun to suffer from memory problems. On 24 April 1952, the garden was damaged by a 200-metre landslide after persistent rain. Johnston died on 27 April 1958.

The property then changed hands several times. It was maintained until 1986, when it was sold to a Monegasque company and left to fall into disrepair. To halt the decline, the garden was listed as a historic monument on 12 December 1990, and in 1999 it was bought by the Conservatoire du littoral, the state body that protects France's coastline. Only then could restoration begin.

04The restoration under way now

On 19 September 2025, Serre de la Madone received 300,000 euros from France's heritage lottery, the only garden among the 18 sites selected that year, Monaco Life reported. The money goes towards a 3.2 million euro restoration programme that began in 2025: the greenhouse, pergola and stone walls are being repaired, ponds, fountains and channels modernised, sculptures restored and the villa stabilised. According to the same source, the garden has more than 10,000 visitors a year.

Source: Côte d'Azur France and Menton's tourist office. Guided tours can be booked through the Menton Riviera Merveilles tourist office.

05More gardens in Menton

Combine the visit with the botanical garden of Val Rahmeh in Garavan and Jean Cocteau's museums by the sea – see our guide to Menton in winter light. The train from Menton also goes to Monaco – read our guide to Monaco – and more destinations can be found among our Riviera guides at metromode.co.

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